I recently began living in a premium single dorm room on campus. For those of you who don’t know, a premium single is a type of room you can have in your residence building. The premium single is the size of a double room, with the same amount of furniture, and yet there is only one person living in it.
I’ll admit that it can definitely get lonely. I have all of this space to myself. Yes, it is nice, and yes, I love it. But sometimes I feel isolated and alone. There are no pets allowed in the building, aside from fish, otherwise I would totally bring one into my new home. I do have several stuffed animals (most of which are courtesy of my boyfriend!) which help a little, just to look at or snuggle at night. But stuffed animals and such can only do so much. I needed something alive. I decided to try growing a plant.
As part of a birthday gift, I picked out a little plant from Barnes and Noble of all places. It said it was organic; it came in a recycled bag with its own dirt and seeds. I brought it back to my dorm room and began watering it every other day, following all of the instructions that came with it. I left it right in front of the window where it could get lots of sunshine, and I constantly leave the shades open so the light pours in.
After about a week, I went to water it again and realized something was different. There was a strange lump in the dirt. I gently brushed away the dirt and revealed a tiny little sprout! I was so excited; this was the first plant I had ever grown and it was alive and well, and getting bigger! I gave it a little bit of water, right on top of it, and went about the rest of my day. By the end of the week, I had two little sprouts and by the end of the weekend I had four. I was even more excited because I had completely forgotten that I planted more than one seed!
The little plants had become my little babies. I cared for them everyday and watched them grow. There were some days when I would come back to my room after classes and I was actually able to see that it grew while I was in class. Seeing those little sprouts every morning in the sun was such a wonderful sight to wake up to, and it was a great way to start my day. Right now they have grown so big that they can’t even stand up on their own. The plants’ stems are too thin to support their height so they are drooping and falling over. If I had toothpicks or popsicle sticks, I would have leaned the plants up against them, but I didn’t have either of those in my room. Instead, I folded an index card in half the long way and stuck it in the dirt. The plants lean against that instead, and it works wonderfully.
It is really nice to have something alive in my room, even if it can’t talk or snuggle me. Something about another living thing, even if it is just a plant, is very comforting. Just seeing its green leaves, and soon flowers, bathed in the glow of early morning sunlight is a beautiful image I get to wake up to every single day. I’m very glad for my new best friends, and I can’t wait to add different plants to my dorm room family too.